


As Now Can't Reveal the Mystery of Tomorrow

by Pharoh



Category: The Tomorrow People (2013)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-15 23:09:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2246829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pharoh/pseuds/Pharoh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlotte is only just beginning to learn how to live. After being in the Citadel ever since she can remember,  she hasn't gotten to see much but the inside of a lab. This is the story of how she starts her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, which will be a Charlotte-centric Tomorrow People fanfiction. It will have at least canon-level violence, but may get darker as it goes on. Tags will be updated as the story continues. The title may change too, so if you have suggestions I would love to hear them. It would also be great to hear from you guys, so make sure to tell me what you think of this story! I don't have a beta at the moment, so I apologize for any mistakes and if I catch them I will change them, or tell me if you find them. Thank you for reading!

     Since Charlotte had been rescued from the Citadel and moved into the lair, she thought that it had typically seemed pretty busy. They had to evacuate to a safe house twice, but that had always been orderly. This? This was chaos. Roger had just woken up. Charlotte had been there when he was brought in, but had only seen a glimpse of a stretcher before she got told to go to her room. Three times. Everyone was there and panicking though, so no one really enforced it.

  
      When Roger finally woke up, Charlotte was there too. She had been worrying about John, seeing how tense and scared he looked, even if he was trying to hide it. Charlotte was the best at feeling emotions due to her main power being throwing emotions-her fear and her pain- back in people’s faces, her psionic scream. Typically, even if someone hides their thoughts she could still feel how they’re feeling. She was standing behind John when Roger had started talking to him, and she could feel the fear, the hurt, the guilt, and the desperation rolling off of him in waves. Once Roger had been told to rest, once John had walked away and his shoulders had dropped, Charlotte gave it a moment before walking towards him to try and comfort him. If he wanted her to.

  
      Then, Charlotte saw someone that she had really never wanted to see again. She had spotted John off to the side and was just walking over to him when she saw him. Talking to John. Charlotte didn’t know his name. He was the one that worked at Ultra. She had seen him in the Citadel often. Just as Charlotte was about to yell for John, to yell and tell people to get out, that a bad man was here, John noticed her, saw her expression. So did the man, though. He stopped talking as he and John turned to her.

  
      John, realizing what was about to happen, reached out and took her shoulders. _“It’s okay, hey don’t be scared, just trust me, alright?”_ He told her telepathically.

  
      Charlotte was bewildered. _“John, he- that guy-”_ she replied in mind, shrinking away from both men.

 

     “I-” the man started.

 

     “No, Jed,” John practically growled before wrapping an arm around Charlotte and leading her off.

  
      John led her into the office. Once the door had shut behind them, Charlotte stopped and grabbed onto the older paranormal’s hand. “John, why is he here? He works for Ultra, how come he’s down here, this is supposed to be a safe place!”

  
      Ducking his head so that he was Charlotte’s height, John told her, “I’m sorry. I should have told you to clear out, I wasn’t thinking.” He looked down. “We need him. We need his help,” he said, the last part sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than her. “I just need you to hang out here for a while, okay? TIM can play some movies, I’ll get you some popcorn or something, but I don’t want you to leave this room, alright? Just in case something happens, I’ll know where you are.”

  
      Still uncomfortable with that man being so close, Charlotte sputtered for a moment before nodding and walking over to sit down on the couch. John left, telling her he would be right back with some snacks. When he came back, he sat down on the couch beside her, handing her the biggest bowl of popcorn she had ever seen and a cup of hot chocolate.

  
      The two of them sat there for a moment and Charlotte could really see just how much Roger being here affected John by the set of his shoulders, the way he didn’t seem all there, like his mind was going a mile a minute. The two of them sat in silence for a while, both shaken.

  
      Charlotte kept checking over her shoulder, checking around her, like the presence of the man would bring a squad of agents down on her right now. How dare he be here? This was her home now, how dare someone like him be here. As if she wasn’t scared enough just by being alive, as if she didn’t have nightmares enough as it is.

  
      John was really just wasting time, wanting to go check on Roger but terrified of what he might find, still scared of what Roger will think or say, never mind what he said earlier. He felt the guilt of killing Roger daily, but with him so close and Roger’s own family- Roger’s real family-in his hideout, it had increased back to a crushing weight on his chest.

  
      “So is this the Roger that you told me about? The one that taught you when you were my age?” Charlotte asked. She had heard stories, had heard about Roger being the “savior” of their species. When she had heard about this, Charlotte had been excited. But could he really take them someplace safe? Was there a place like that for them that existed? It made her think though. Think of a place with no Ultra, no worrying about getting taken again, no _Citadel._

  
      Startled out of his thoughts, John looked over at Charlotte. “Yeah. Yeah, he’s a good guy.” He smiled, going for reassuring. As he patted her shoulder, he could pick up on her thoughts. It was mostly just images, flashes of memory. He saw little Charlotte at different ages, seeing Jedikiah in the Citadel and pulled back, not wanting to intrude, knowing she didn’t like having people in her head. Also because as stressed at Jedikiah as John was at the moment, he wasn’t sure if he could stand seeing Jedikiah stand by while his little girl- _this_ little girl, he corrected himself- was being hurt.

  
      Hesitatingly reaching over to him, Charlotte wrapped John in a tight hug. John was surprised for a moment. Then he was proud for a moment, at how Charlotte was becoming more comfortable with physical contact. When they first busted her out, just a tap on the shoulder was enough to make Charlotte flinch away so violently that John worried she would break something. She still does flinch at contact, but he knows from experience that that’s a hard thing to shake.

  
      “It’s going to be okay John. Everything’s going to work out.” Charlotte said quietly into John’s shoulder.

  
      Closing his eyes, John swallowed hard. “Yeah, I know kiddo, I know,” he gritted out, more for Charlotte’s benefit. He wasn’t sure if he actually believed it.

     “No, I’m serious John,” Charlotte said as she pulled back to look John in the eye. “You don’t have to be worried. I know you’re not a bad person. I’ve seen bad people, I’ve seen evil people, and I know that you are not one of them. You are nowhere close. The only person that doesn’t know that is you.”

  
      John didn’t have a reply to that. He could see how much she meant it. Charlotte truly believed he was a good person. Finally, he managed a somewhat watery smile, pulling the youngest tomorrow person back into a hug and holding her tightly. After a few moments, he pulled back, a smile that was just a little bit more real than it was before on his face.

  
      “Go on,” Charlotte said, pushing at John’s shoulder and smiling at him, “Go talk or do your other adult-y not-for-Charlotte things.”

     Laughing, John dropped a kiss to her forehead before walking out the door to go see Roger.

  
      The next time someone walked through the door, Charlotte was halfway through Mulan and only a quarter of the way through the popcorn.

  
      Luca had been mumbling to himself once he got away from other people.  
     

     “Wow, way to go life, first I figure out that my brother had superpowers, then apparently my mom does too,” he went on, reaching a room further away from the others “Thanks for making me the only family member without powers by the way, yeah that’s great, but no, that’s not enough. Now I have to go and figure out that my dad’s actually been dead but now he’s actually been alive, and-” he finally cut off, noticing that the movie stopped, and then the girl sitting three feet from him.

     “Are you okay?” Charlotte asked, looking concerned but also wary since she didn’t know who this guy was.  
     

     “Yeah, yeah,” Luca said, getting shaken out of his reverie. “I’m cool. Besides the whole walking dead-dad out there and the whole ‘new species’ thing.”  
 

     “Wait- you’re Luca right?” Stephen had told Charlotte about his little brother that was about her age. She hadn’t ever seen him before though, and she was pretty sue that he didn’t have powers. At least, not yet.  
 

     Luca’s eyes widened. Looking surprised and a bit scared as he physically took a step back. “Wait- did you just read my mind?”

     Charlotte, upon thinking about if for a moment, decided to have a bit of fun.

     Putting her hand to her head in true Professor X style, Charlotte took on a concentrating expression. “Interesting… Wait- what was- oh wow…” she mumbled under her breath, making herself look as if she were reading his mind, but not actually reading his mind.

     Once Luca started looking downright terrified Charlotte stopped, feeling bad, and because she couldn’t keep it up any longer. The façade broke as Charlotte flopped back onto the couch, laughing.

     “Wait, wait. Was that- so were you actually reading my mind?” Luca asked.

     “No, I wouldn’t do that. Not without permission, at least,” Charlotte said, taking a breath to get herself together and stop laughing.

   
      “Really? But like, if you can, why not? You could get so much dirt on people. Hey, could you find out if it was my brother that took my headphones?” Luca said as he went to sit on the couch beside Charlotte, picking up the popcorn.

  
      Rolling her eyes, Charlotte looked over at the boy. “Because it’s rude,” she said, taking the popcorn back.

     “Oh,” Luca nodded. He would still totally read people’s mind whenever he could if he had the ability to, though. “Are you watching Mulan?”

     “Yeah. Mulan is awesome.” Charlotte said, telekinetically flipping a piece of popcorn several feet above her before dropping it back into her mouth. “Do you want to watch some movies? TIM can get pretty much anything.”

     “Who’s Tim?” Luca asked Charlotte, but that’s when TIM cut in.  
     

     “I am a supercomputer,” he said, “And I can get anything, Miss Taylor.”

     Charlotte smiled as Luca startled, looking for where the voice was coming from. She pointed up. “That’s TIM. He’s great.”

     Luca looked ready to pass out at this point from all the new stuff he was experiencing today. Charlotte took pity on him, placing the popcorn bowl halfway between them and asking TIM to resume the movie marathon.

     They had just finished two more Disney movies before Luca finally talked her into watching a scary movie. Charlotte and Luca were right at the part in Insidious where the dad had went into the Further. The two had scooted against each other, trying to hide behind the other. That’s when Russell threw the door open, thoroughly terrifying the teens as they yelped, jumping and grabbing at each other and spilled the rest of the popcorn.

     “Luca, your dad is asking for you,” he told Luca as he started laughing his ass off.

     Shooting up, Luca ran out to go find his dad. Charlotte half stood before sitting back down, not sure where she should go, where she belonged at the moment.

     Russell was still chuckling. “Come on kid. I’m sure John could use all the comfort he can get right now,” Russell told her before standing up all the way and looking at her, dead serious. “Just don’t say I said that.”

     Later, John and Stephen were standing close together and talking, John playing with Stephen’s hands and not looking the other paranormal in the eye. Even though they successfully got Roger back, there was still a lot that had to be done. Roger wasn’t even fully healed yet. Russell walked up to them, listening in on the conversation as the two filled him in on the plan for the moment. He also got a healthy dose of the two fawning over Cara. _Couples_ , Russell scoffed to himself.

  
      As Russell went to hit the hay for the night, he said over his shoulder, “You know, I walked in on Luca and Charlotte earlier. I have to say, those two are cute together.” It was slightly joking. Mostly for John and Stephen’s reactions. Part truthfully, though.

 

     John and Stephen laughed for a moment before pausing and looking at each other seriously. “Wait, what?!”


	2. Chapter 2

For the next week as Roger healed, Charlotte and Luca would hang out whenever Luca came to the lair. For Charlotte, it was nice to finally know someone her own age. For Luca, it was comforting to be friends with one of his brother’s-wait, one of his  family’s \- species. To know someone in this world that he knows so little about.

  


After the day that time stopped, after Roger’s death, after John went missing, both were too busy to hang out again. The whole week Charlotte was panicking about the possibility of the human race being wiped out. Then worrying about John. And after that, panicking about being in Ultra headquarters.  My life in general seemed to be a lot of panicking , she thinks bitterly.  Come on Charlotte, don’t be like that,  she tells herself as she starts thinking nicer things. She said that she wasn’t going to be a bitter person. She probably shouldn’t talk to herself so much, either.

  


Just when Charlotte thought her psionic screams were controlled was when she was told to start packing. Because they were  moving into Ultra . She wasn’t sure why. The lair was perfectly fine. Charlotte had been trying to stay in the lair as long as she could, just now putting her few meager possessions into a bag. It wasn’t like she brought anything with her to the lair, so it was just the clothes and a few items and toys that she had been given. Her doll, too. Her doll, Kelly, was the only thing that she had from her old life, and no matter how short that time was Charlotte was determined to try and remember it. She couldn’t really remember her parents, but she could remember her brother.

  


Her brother had been the one that pretty much raised her and kept her safe from their parents. Then Ultra came. Her brother grabbed her and went to get them out, but the agents did something to him. She could remember everyone screaming, two loud noises, and then it got too fuzzy to understand. Charlotte wasn’t sure how much of it was actually what happened and what had been twisted by Ultra, by their experiments, by her nightmares.

  


Charlotte had finished packing and walked out of what used to be her bedroom. Everyone had packed their stuff and most of them had already left. Walking through the abandoned train station gave Charlotte chills. You wouldn’t have known that people had lived here with how dark and empty it was. She knew that once she got to Ultra, though, the empty lair would seem like heaven.

  


Hearing footsteps and voices behind her, Charlotte turned. It was just Cara and Stephen, coming through to make sure everything was clear and they hadn’t left any signs of their time here. Surely Cara knew that she was still here, but she was still laughing at something that Stephen had said as they turned the corner.

  


“Hey Lottie, what are you still doing here” Stephen asked. Charlotte bit her tongue, thinking of dozens of reasons she’s still here and not voluntarily going into that place. As Stephen reached her, he tossed an arm around her, leading them all through the girls’ home one last time.

  


As Stephen looked at her, Charlotte realized he was serious. “I just… I’m going to miss this place. I liked it here.”

  


“Well now there’s going to be actual light, and more space. Plus, TIM was saying that you’re probably ready to start school whenever you’re ready. What do you think? You’d be in Luca’s grade, I’m pretty sure,” Stephen told her.

  


“Do I have to?” Charlotte asked, cringing. She had never been to school. The only person her age she even knew was Luca. How was she supposed to act like a normal high schooler? What if she was weird, or didn’t make any friends, or wasn’t smart enough?

  


           Cara smiled sympathetically at the girl, picking up on her thoughts. “Don’t worry about it.  You’ve been doing great with TIM’s lessons . As long as you don’t dance like Stephen at the parties, you’ll be fine.” Cara said, a teasing note in her voice at the end.

  


Stephen laughed, taking no offense. Pulling away form the two, he turned and pointed a finger at Charlotte, saying, "No parties. Parties are bad. Wait until you're older." He reached out and ruffled Charlotte's hair, making her slap at his hands as she tried to brush it back down. Stephen backed away, saying, “I’m heading up. Tell me if you need any more help down here,” before teleporting away.

  


Cara stopped and turned to Charlotte, asking, “Okay, I know you’re scared. What’s wrong?”

  


“Why are we moving to Ultra? What if they come back, or they have traps or something, I mean how do we know we’re really safe, and-” It was like a top had burst. Charlotte rambled to Cara, asking about the things she had been worrying about since they announced that they were moving the base to Ultra.

  


“Charlotte, sweetie, calm down.” Cara said, putting a hands on Charlotte’s shoulder. “It’s going to be nicer there. And bigger. Like Stephen said, there’ll be more space for you to run around, to practice your powers in. Don’t worry, it’s safe now. Ultra’s gone.” She said, smiling at Charlotte and petting her hair once before walking off, teleporting after Stephen. Charlotte was left gaping, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, wanting to say more but not wanting to seem like she was complaining.

  


How could she have told Cara anyways? How could she tell Cara why she couldn’t stay? Charlotte was just a few years old when Ultra had taken her the first time and could only just recall the day Ultra came, only had the faintest memories of the days before then, of her family. She took a deep breath and prepared herself as she got ready to teleport back to Ultra.

_______________

 

Charlotte couldn’t walk through Ultra for the first week without panicking. Couldn’t stand being closed up in Ultra again. After a week or two, she was able to be there without having to run out for fresh air to calm herself, but that didn't mean she was any more comfortable than she was before. At night she wandered around, looking over her shoulder every other step. Every moment in Ultra, she was constantly in fear. She had had terrible nightmares most every time that she slept since she was saved, but now- back in the setting of her bad dreams- they were more intense and more often. Charlotte just wanted these nightmares to be over with.

  


This particular night, Charlotte found herself climbing what seemed like dozens of sets of stairs. She finally reached the top, pulling open the door to the roof. It was a nice night, cold but not too cold. The wind was whipping around and blowing Charlotte’s hair into her face, so she put it back into a ponytail as she walked towards the edge. The city lights were beautiful, she thought, and she looked down at the two people still out. They looked so tiny from where she was standing.

  


You never would have imagined that two seconds before she opened the door, there was a man standing alone on the roof. By the time he felt someone else’s presence, he didn’t even have time to teleport, settling for jumping behind some metal object that was hidden in shadow and preparing himself if he were to have to fight his way out of this. He didn’t realize that the person that had snuck up on him was a little girl that weighed eighty pounds soaking wet.

  


Charlotte hopped up and sat on the edge of the building, dangling her feet and looking out at the city. “Their new home”, some of the others called it. She shivered and not just because of the cold, pulling her jacket tighter around her. It was here that she felt most comfortable when she couldn’t sleep. Being outside was definitely one of the best things she had experienced since she first came to the tomorrow people. Charlotte also loved being up high. When everything else looked so small, Charlotte was able to find comfort in feeling big for once.

  


Then, Charlotte heard the sound of footsteps behind her, the rocks shifting. She froze, trying to listen and see who was behind her. Charlotte could feel the nervous energy behind her.

  


          “Charlotte Taylor,” Morgan reprimanded softly, not wanting to spook the youngest of their group. When Morgan saw the little girl wandering around, she had followed her. Once on the roof, though, her mind had gone right to the worst. Was Charlotte about to jump off? Morgan knew that the girl had been through some of the worst out of any of them, had seen the very worst of Ultra since she was a  toddler , but she never expected this, she thought as she walked towards the girl. She should have been watching her more, should have been trying to help her. God only knows how bad the little girl has been hurt in her short life. “What are you doing up there?”

  


Startling for a moment at the sound of someone’s voice, Charlotte turned quickly, only to see that it was just Morgan and then she just shrugged, looking back out at the pretty lights. The way she jumped nearly gave Morgan a heart attack though, with Charlie being so close to falling off of the building.

  


Neither of them knew about the man that was hiding here, with him having years of practice at hiding himself and his thoughts. They also didn’t know about the way that the man’s eyes widened at that name. 

“What are you doing up? It’s almost three in the morning, you should be sleeping,” Morgan told her, reaching the edge and wrapping an arm around Charlotte’s tiny frame and stroking her hair. Part of it was a show of affection, part of it was Morgan comforting herself with being able to hold onto her tightly to make sure the kid wouldn’t fall.

  


“Couldn’t sleep,” Charlotte said as she played with the hems of her sleeves, a habit of hers. “How did you find me, anyway?”

  


“I was just wandering around and saw that you weren’t in your room-”

  


“You mean my cell?” Charlotte cut in. She realized how rude she sounded and regretted talking to Morgan like that. Still, she was sick of being scared. Cara blew her off, John was gone, and Charlotte didn’t know who to talk to. Charlotte realized it was mean to take her frustration out on Morgan, but she couldn’t stop herself.

  


Morgan paused. “What do you say that for?”

  


Charlotte closed her eyes, leaning away from Morgan’s touch. “It’s a cell. That’s what Ultra is, a prison, therefore that room is as much a cell as the one I had in the Citadel.”

  


The man tensed. The Citadel? She was there? He closed his eyes, trying to reign in his anger, to not act on impulse and anger alone.  They said they were going to keep her  safe , he thought. He should have realized that was just another thing that Ultra lied about. When he felt something else, though, he paused. The man felt guilty.  Guilty . That was something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Or, as of recently, tried to ignore feeling.

  


“Oh, Charlie… I didn’t realize-” Morgan understood what was wrong then. She kicked herself for not acting on it sooner. Of course Charlotte would be terrified here. No wonder she looked more tired than usual lately. She wondered if the kid had even slept at all since they got here. Judging by the bags under Charlotte’s eyes, she definitely hadn’t been sleeping much. “Hey, you know, you don’t have to stay. I still have my old apartment, we could go there. I understand that you don’t like it here, it’s just… I know you don’t want to hear this, but it is safer here.”

  


“That’s what everyone is saying. Everyone is running around or playing video games, just acting like this is some kind of playground. Doesn’t everyone realize what Ultra  is ?” She didn’t feel herself floating a bit, an old habit of hers that started in the Citadel. “This place is not fun. This place is dangerous, this place is a graveyard. You can feel the fear off of the place. No one  understands. ” Charlotte went on, her voice practically pleading, but also angry and scared.

  


“Charlotte please, calm down, okay? Come down from there before you fall, please,” Morgan said, scared.

  


Upon realizing what she was doing, Charlotte dropped herself back down next to Morgan. “I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m sorry,” she said, ducking her head.

  


Morgan just pulled the girl to her chest, hugging her tightly. “Don’t worry about it, Charlie. I’ll keep you safe, I promise,” she said before leading the girl back inside and out of the cold.

  


The man was still in his hiding place when they left. He had déjà vu, seeing himself holding the girl, but they were just kids. Sitting in their room, trying to hide the girl from the bad things in life. He levitated some of her toys and she giggled, clapping her hands together. At the sound of their parents teleporting back, he dropped the toys and pulled the baby closer to him, kissing her tiny head. “I’ll keep you safe, Charlie, I promise,” he told her. It turns out that was a lie.

Standing, he looked after the two. What if that wasn’t her? Could his sister really be here? What could he even do if that was her, though? He had gone into hiding a long time ago, and he knew he should have found her, taken her with him. Telekinetically, he threw a random pipe off of the roof in a fit of anger and watched as it sailed off until he couldn’t see it anymore. He would just have to stay away. What would she even think of him anyways? What if she didn’t even remember him? Wanting to see his baby sister again but knowing that he needed to leave, Killian McCrane teleported away and told himself he would think it through more once he was away from here and had less of a chance of being caught.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
